It looks like the America's attack against Iraq has come to a quagmire.
It indicates that the strategy of the war, planned by neo-conservatives
who consider war as something of a computer-generated reality, is failing.
I would like to propose to you a possibility. A possibility that Japan
could have stopped the war if she had chosen to stand against supporting
the U.S. and Great Britain.
It is quite reasonable to think that the United States may have sought
other option other than launching missiles to Iraq when Germany and
France were speaking against her in Europe, and Japan standing against
her in Asia. However, the Japanese government chose to support the Americans.
Here lies Japan's problem. In fact, I feel very sorry that the Japanese
people have made the grave mistake of choosing a politician who would
eventually support war, as the nation's Prime Minister.
In 2001, the Japanese people cheered Junichiro Koizumi, who had been
the leader of Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction as the new
Prime Minister with an uproar, waving the Hinomaru, the national flag
clasped in their hands. They also failed to see what was hidden under
Koizumi's populist mask, being a hawk plus his political incompetence,
which has further prolonged a recession which could almost called depression,
even promoting the situation. Obviously, we have picked the wrong man.
By the way, sometimes people make wrong decisions. This was Koizumi's
remark about anti-war demonstrations going on in Japan. Yes, that is
true. However, what is more important is: Do the people possess the
ability to recapitulate why they have made the wrong decision? I believe
that depth of the ability would measure the nation's "cultural
standard."
So borrowing logic from Koizumi's statement, the Japanese people, or
Japan's public opinion, had been wrong to have chosen Koizumi as the
Prime Minister. I believe the nation's leader is a vision on a mirror,
showing its cultural standard. The people of the nation is facing the
mirror. Then, Japan's cultural standard may be absolutely appalling.
